Remove Second Lifes Typing Animation

I've just started using Second Life, and one of the most annoying things about it, is the default typing animation, that everyone starts with, when inside of Second Life. The first question posed is, "How do I remove the typing animation in Second Life?" Well the answer's remarkably simple, because it's just a command inside of the Second Life viewer that's set to "true".

1) Open the Second Life viewer, and log into Second Life.
2) Once inside of Second Life, if you press Ctrl+Alt+D, you will get the Second Life advanced menu, appearing at the top of the Second Life viewer.

3) Click on the Advanced menu, and then select "Debug Settings" near the bottom.
4) You should now see a small box appear within the Second Life viewer, called Debug settings. If you click the drop down arrow in the first box, you will see a large collection of Second Lifes commands, but for now the only command we're interested in is "PlayTypingAnim".

5) Once you have located this command, you will see a breif description of what the command does, and the word "TRUE", which if you now change to "FALSE", and save. You will see that the typing animation in Second Life will now be stopped.

So jump back into Second Life, and have fun. My avatars name is "Nightfaller Aeon", for those who wish to know.

Regards,
Sycrid.

PHP Coding - Country Flags

This is a short piece of code that was developed for the YoYo Tech Gaming Group, in a recent project. The code simply drags out the name of a country from the database and takes that variable and drags the image with that variable as a name, with the extension of jpg or gif at the end. Then echos this image to the screen.

< src="">.png" width="18px" height="12px"/ >

As you can see we are telling an Image to appear with the "img src" opening the directory that the countries flags are stored within, in this instance it is "Flags/" and then we are jumping into the php.

We open up the php command with the usual ?php then we are echoing the variable which is stored in the database in the field Country, closing the php statement and then finishing the line of code with the file extension, which here is .png

Once run through a browser this will appear as ...

< src="Flags/USA.png" width="18px" height="12px">

Amazingly, this is a rather simple piece of code, and I will admit I got stuck with it, because before hand I was using if statements and it became a very long and extensive piece of coding, which was both a waste of my time and inefficient. However after it was pointed out to me on Coding Forums.com I did feel like slapping my self in the face because it was such an obvious solution.

Anyway the finalised product can be seen at the following location. YoYo Tech Developed Coding.

PHP truly does rock this world!
Sycrid

Proxy Server Websites

Hiya guys and girls,

I thought I'd knock up a little information about proxy servers and also give you a list of a few which are useful and seem quite solid.

What is a Proxy Server?
Think of driving, and you want to get from point A to point B, but there is a motorway in the way, and no means to cross it, until you take a small detour and go over a bridge. A proxy is like that, where you have your computer, and the website you wish to access, however you have a company/school firewall in the way which currently blocks the website you want to see. You need something to act like the bridge, to allow you to go from your computer to the website. Anyway a proxy server will act like that bridge until the proxy server is also blocked.

"An intermediary server that accepts requests from clients and forwards them to other proxy servers, the origin server, or services."
Reference: www.equiinet.com/cachepilot/support/cachepilotglossary.asp



What to look for in a Proxy Server, and what does it mean?

Include Form: Will include a URL box/form on every webpage that you view through the proxy, so it is easy to locate another website.

Remove Scripts: Removes all client/server scripting on the website you wish to view.
Accept Cookies: Do you want to accept cookies from the website you wish to view?
Show Images: Do you want to see the images on the website or not?
Show Referrer: Shows the referring website within the URL section of your internet browser.

Rotate13: Uses an encoding method called Rotate13, where every letter in the alphabet is moved 13 places to the right.

Base64: Base64 is a method of encoding binary data sent as an attachment through email. Base64 encoding divides three bytes of data into four bytes of ASCII text, making the resulting file size approximately 33% larger. Reference: http://www.ciphertrust.com/resources/glossary/index.php?term=B

Strip Meta: Removes meta tag data from the website you are viewing.
Strip Title: Removes the website title from the website you are using.
Session Cookies: Allows you to store cookies for the viewing session that you are having via the proxy.

New Window: Will open the website you want to view through the proxy, in a new window.



Good Proxy Servers:
- FreeProxyServer
- G-Proxy
- Proxy247


Please note: If you use any proxy server mentioned above, you take sole responsibility for your actions and this blog post is entirely for informational purposes only.

Serenity Movie Review

Review: From the acclaimed director Joss Whedon, came the unfortunately short television series known as FireFly, that was cut short before the last episodes of the series aired on television. Firefly managed to acquire 4million viewers whilst it was aired but due to the last episodes never being placed live on the television, the series went through to DVD and the sales exceeded what was expected, causing a series re-think.

The problem for Joss Whedon was that the series had been cut, so how could he continue to keep the audience happy? Simple he made a feature length film that went straight through to the big screen, without the viewers needing to know the series.

Serenity follows the crew of a smugglers spaceship venturing through the solar system that has been almost man made through teraforming, in the aim to create the perfect society. This dream created by the "Alliance" is not long lived and the outer planets are full of those who do not agree with the lives that they are expected to live within this society.

The movie Serenity follows the lives of the crew on board the space ship known as "Serenity" and the dark truth that they discover about how the solar system they live in, has come to be. This truth takes them through a journey that pushes their lives to the very edge of the solar system and makes them witness how mankind created such a horrific thing as the "reavers".

The crew of Serenity have to avoid both the Reavers and the alliance to show the rest of the galaxy what the truth really is, in order to stop the alliance from making more mistakes and ending valuable lives.

I will leave you to watch the movie to discover what this horrific truth is, but I have to admit that even if you have seen the series Firefly, you will not see the truth that the crew of Serenity discover, to be the most obvious of truths.

I really enjoyed this movie, so 4 out of 5 stars goes to Joss Whedon.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

Round Ireland With A Fridge Book Review

Review: I was given Round Ireland with a Fridge as a gift from a friend, and after doing a little research, it appears that Tony Hawk, was not an American Skater but there was also a Tony Hawk in the UK, who managed to make one extremely good life through comedy.

As with all stories, which are non-fiction, the good ones originate from a few good drinks, a bad hangover and a drunken bet. Round Ireland with a Fridge, is no exception to this rule, where Tony Hawks woke up one morning after a not so rememberable night, with a bet scribbled on his pillow.

Simply put the bet that Tony decides to take on, is that he must try and hitch hike around Ireland with a fridge at his side. Sound strange? Well the book is near enough a journal of what happened, on such a trip.

As you read through this book, you will laugh and giggle at how absurd Tony's life quickly becomes whilst traveling, from sleeping with the fridge through to sleeping in the dog house.

The book itself has sold over 1/2 a million copies and is currently being turned into a movie, which is set for release in 2010.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

Princess Mononoke Movie Review

Review: Princess Mononoke, was release in 1997 to a world wide audience, and consists of 144,000 hand drawings, which alone, is worth some credit. 80,000 of these hand drawings where created by Miyazaki, who relates this movies scenery to an earlier series release that he had created.

As far as anime goes, Princess Mononoke is a classic. It contains all the violence that is embedded within movies such as Akira and the storyline involved in such movies as Spirited Away. Princess Mononokes plot is rather simple but that’s what makes all movies good, a simple story, that allows for less concentration to be required.

There are the two main characters within Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka is the first of the two that you are introduced to within the movie, who is chasing after a wild boar to protect his villige, but unexpectedly takes on the role of being cursed, through the beasts interaction. The curse takes form in the shape of a scare which evolves as the movie continues. With no hope of Ashitaka being able to save himself by staying in the villige, he aims to take an adventure through the great forests that surround him, in the hope that something may appear, that can save his life.

The second character starts to appear at around this point, which is San, a girl adopted by wild wolves, as part of their pack. She has grown up with them and been taught their ways, allowing her to understand the forests more than any of the humans who occupy the surroundings.

San has been trying to stop the never ending invasion of miners into the forest, in the search for Iron, and this has resulted in here continually attacking the a near by mining villige, and them retalliating, which is when Ashitaka gets stuck right in the middle due to the belief that both groups of life can adapt and live along side each other. Princess Mononoke, is a movie of Nature Vs Mankind, whilst set within a past history, where spirits, curses and deamons are not only believed in, but actually exist. This mystical world, of beautiful anime and exceptional storyline, conjure into what could be considered one of the best anime movies of all time.

I will leave the review at this point, because I believe you should watch Princess Mononoke, to discover what happens. Will the forest be saved? Will the minors stop? Will a war of Nature Vs Mankind take place? And most importantly will Ashitaka find the cure he is looking for?

Princess Mononoke gets a 4 out of 5 star rating from Edd The Zombie.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

Monster House Movie Review

Review: Monster house, what do you think of when you hear that for a movie name? My assumption was that it would be about monsters within an old house, and I was partially correct. It turns out that the house was in fact the monster.

Two of the very best things about Monster House, were the angle from which the story was told, because the developers/directors pinned down what appeared to be a solid idea of what a child’s view towards an angry old man and his old house could be. The other big bonus was the level of artwork and graphic development that had been placed within Monster House, although it did feel like I was watching the original toy story again, but with a new plot.

However, the story follows a simple idea of… It’s coming to Halloween and a few children (the main characters), have an over active imagination which oddly enough turns out to be the truth, when they discover their neighbour has a house that turns into a monster. Of course no body believes them and they have to investigate all by themselves, but through investigation they discover that giving a house a cold, will not quite destroy it.

I have to advise that you watch this movie to discover the ending of the story, but it’s a very simple plot and to be honest it’s not the world’s best movie for those of us who refer to ourselves as adults, but I’m sure the kids will enjoy Monster House.

Edd The Zombie rates Monster House 3 out of 5 stars.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

High Fidelity Movie Review

Review: Based off of the Nick Hornby book, this film follows the trivial series of events that happens in relationships as they end.

You follow the life of Rob, the person we all would like to be when we grow up, a record store owner and ex-DJ who has an extensive record collection, but with a negative, he has just been dumped, by his girlfriend Laura, who is now moving in with the previous tenant from upstairs.

After the initial feeling of being dumped, Rob goes on what could be seen as a midlife crisis, where he lists his five worst breakups, and then goes for an adventure trying to find them, to see if he was doing something wrong. Whilst Rob has this little adventure, he also plats and schemes to get Laura back, through methods that most would only associate with stalkers, such things as 10 calls a day and standing outside her new flat.

The best way to summerise this movie, is simple, its about what goes through a mans mind when the partner he loves, disappears from his life, some will see this as the rant of a man, and others will view the movie as complete truth, the things which are insane, for a split moment in time appear as perfect clarity and we understand, but upon reflection make no sense.

It's a watchable movie, but when compared to the book, it suffers badly, because things are jumbled up, and although it portrays what the book is about, it is not the same.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

Fireproof Movie Review

Review: Fireproof was released in 2008, and it focuses on how a married couple discover that there are miracles in life, when you are willing to open up and take in new ideas, beliefs and traditions.

The movie starts with the couple being bitter and angry with a vast array of hurdles in the way of their relationship, trying very hard to make things go in the right direction, but upon a heated and raised argument the proposal of divorce creeps into the situation and at this point we enter the lives of Caleb and Catherine.

Fireproof, is any relation fireproof? At first Caleb doesn't think so much, and believes that a divorce may be the answer to all of the worries. His addictions and one way mind set are partially the reason why things are going so bad, and deep down he knows it. It's not until his father says give it 40 days and hands him a book, saying here's a dare for you.

Within this book, for everyday of the 40 that Caleb has to wait, he has been blessed with a challenge, something out of the normal for him, which later finds him not only changing his life but discovering that things can be fireproof.

The summery of this movie, is that it had a small budget but it has tied itself very well into the issues of self discovery, religion and relationships.

I wouldn't say its fantastic, but it's something to watch on a sunder afternoon if you're bored.

Originally Posted on Edd The Zombie

Catch and Release Movie Review

Review: Catch and Release, released in 2006 has an all star cast with actress Jennifer Garner and actors Kevin Smith & Timothy Olyphant. Usually when something has Kevin Smith involved you would assume it's to be an amazing comedy and with a title like "catch and release", it could have been just that.

However, catch and release follows the life of a near widower, who lost her fiancé a few days before their wedding. You discover a lot about Gray just as she learns about herself, as she goes through the discovery of who her fiancé actually was and his hidden secrets.

The uncovering of a secret relationship in another city, a child and a lot of money in the bank, are the remains of a man after his unfortunate demise, but how does Gray cope with such news? Well not in the way that you'd expect, at first she is a little bit hostile about the secrets, but within a short while she opens up to the child, the idea of the money and the relationship her fiancé had behind her back.

By acknowledging that she has lost him but also highlighted who he truly was, Gray starts learning alot about who she really is, and falls in love with a friend, which is where her new life starts and the movie ends.

Simply put, for a drama movie, this one kicks ass, and is one of my favourite movies of all time. It's well directed, nothing has been cut short and it's well thought out. If you watch it, I believe you will come to a similar conclusion and for that reason Catch and Release has been handed 5 stars by me.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

Search Engine Optimisation: Part 4

Search Engine Optimisation and Tagging

What is tagging?
When typing code within coding languages, we will often assign attributes to certain aspects of the website page, to help shape and define what is being presented to the user. Tagging is the result of this where the use of certain select pieces of code will result in a robot or spider seeing the information that is tagged with more importance

Why should we use tagging?
As was just mentioned, by using tagging we are allowing the spiders/robots to know that a certain phrase, word or series of numbers is the most important part of our page. That this select piece of information, which could be the title or a word in mid-sentence, has more meaning or importance than the rest of the page, not to say the rest of the page is not important.

What forms of tagging does a robot/spider see with more value?
The basic ones that everybody should be using with a simple HTML page are the header tags, which indicate headers and sub-headings within a page that has been published. They range from H1 through to H6 and can be altered through using cascading style sheets and such, without much effort, so you have no reason to worry about whether the formatting will fit into your webpage design, because you can change that.

Two of the least known tags are some to replace others, which do the same job but also indicate that they have more importance, than the original tags that they can replace. The first one is < s t r o n g > and can replace < b o l d >, it will result in the text that it wraps as being bold, just like the bold tag would do, but it also tells the spiders / robots that crawl through your website that the words wrapped within this tag, are very important.

The second of the two least known tags is one that I my self have just become aware of, and it is < e m > which stands for emphasis, and if you wrap your text within this tag, you will notice the effect is the same as the < I > tag, which makes all of your text italic. Just like the strong tag, it will be represented to the robots as something which has a higher value or more importance.

< s t r o n g > Hello World < / s t r o n g > = < b > Hello World < / b >

< e m > Hello World < / e m > = < I > Hello World < / I >

Search Engine Optimisation Part 3

Search Engine Optimisation and Images

Fancy getting your images into Google image search or just attract more users? If you do then these are the following settings that I would advise to be used when placing images on your website.

Firstly, make the file name for the image relevant, rather than useless. What I mean by this is, your camera might take excellent photographs, but who is going to search for “img_3838978273.jpg”? I can’t imagine very many. If it’s a picture of a tree then name it something like, tree.jpg or if it’s a cat, name it cat.jpg. These are very simple commonsense practices, and yet so many people do not take advantage of them, follow the theory and it will benefit your website.

Secondly, when you place an image on your website, give it an alt tag. An alt tag will specify what the image is of and is good practice for complying with w3c guidelines. The reason we use alt tags is for web browsers that are having trouble reading the image data and can provide an alternative solution to a box with a little red cross. The red cross may appear still but the alt tag will also be present, and this works to your advantage very well, when you have people with some degree of disabilities, such as those who are partially blind, programs that they use can read the text on the page, and will inform the user the image is of, a tree or a cat.

Thirdly, if you are aiming for your images to appear in Google image search, then be patient because Google can take quite a while to update its image search, since it is not as fast as the web search function it has.

=========

Search Engine Optimisation and Sitemaps.
A sitemap is a page or location that you can visit, which will list all of the pages within your website, this is useful for your users, so it’s worth having. It will allow a user to quickly identify the page that they wish to visit, and as a result becomes a vital page within your website. With that information in mind, having a link to your sitemap, in html format, within homepage or every page of your website, will be very useful, because in addition to a user being capable of using the information, when ever a spider/robot appears, it will read the entire sitemap and as a result, crawl every page on your website, unless instructed otherwise.

The second useful thing about sitemaps is that if you use tools such as Google Webmaster, then you can submit your sitemap directly to the search engine and have a spider crawl the sitemap when ever you update the information. This becomes a fantastic option when you need to create and remove a lot of pages within a short period of time, and should also help you get your website indexed within Google faster, if you are just starting out.

Free 2010 Calendar

Alright guys, I figured I've been taking lots of photographs recently and I decided to turn them into a calendar for 2010, for free. If you want the free calendar then feel free to download it from the following link, where I've hosted it on server space.

Free 2010 Calendar = FREE 2010 CALENDAR (Click here).

Have a look if you want before you save it, but print it out, hand it to friends, give it as a gift, heck do what you want with it, its free!

Notes:
- Free 2010 Calendar, does not mean the images can be re-used.
- Free 2010 Calendar, does still imply that I have the copyrights to the photographs used.
- Free 2010 Calendar, has events for every month including holidays.
- Free 2010 Calendar has photography from across europe and is mainly nature photographs.

Instructions:
- Right click the link
- Select "save as"
- Choose where to save the file.
- Print the file.

Photographs included are below.

Its a long way home. by ~N1ghtf4ll3r on deviantART


My Little Lady by ~N1ghtf4ll3r on deviantART


Regards,
Sycrid.

Search Engine Optimisation: Part 2

Search Engine Optimisation and Keyword Density
Keyword density plays a good part in Search Engine Optimisation, because as spiders and bots crawl through your website pages they will take note of the most frequently used words, terminology and names, which will then depend on how relevant your page is to searches that are performed by that search engine.

It is not rare to find website pages that have a keyword density of 10% but I have found that more often than not, a percentage of about 5% is common. The percentage is worked out via a calculation, the amount of times your keyword or phrase appears on the page, divided by the amount of words that appear on the page and then multiplied by 100, to result in your keyword density percentage.

The equation looks something like this, as explained very clearly on Wikipedia, with similar values to…

(Keywords / words on page * 100)

Things that you should take into consideration with keyword density are, what keywords should be appearing on your webpage? Try looking at your title and thinking of 3 keywords that should appear in relation to the title, then try and rewrite your article so that the keywords will appear more frequently within your article, thus resulting in improved Search Engine Optimisation via Keyword Density.

Where else can the keywords be placed? Absolutely anywhere within your web page, you do not have to restrain to using keywords within the body of your content. Good examples of thinking outside the box with this idea below.

1) Throw some of the keywords in above your logo, so you not only have the image but you also have the appropriate keywords for your website.
2) Place the keywords within the Meta title, description and keywords.
3) How about linking within your own page, anchoring text to sections of web content, and placing the keywords as titles and content for these anchors.
4) Images, as discussed within the images section, give your image an alt tag, and use your keywords within this section.



Search Engine Optimisation and hyperlinks
First of all, if you are going through hyperlinks in all over the place, get the links correct. I’ve seen way too many websites whilst on my adventures throughout the internet, which place a link and when you click on it, it will take you through to that external link within the same page. People, users and readers, if you want some one to go to your website, then why send them away as soon as they come?
Rather choose the better option of allowing them to follow the link you have but into a new window or tab, it’s very simple and very effective. The code is below, where the target=”_blank” refers to opening a new window/tab.

< a h r e f = ”websiteaddress” t a r g e t = ” _blank ” > website name < / a >

Now on to how links affect your websites Search Engine Optimisation. Key rules are as follows, if you have a link related to your websites subject, then fantastic because it is likely going to be using those select words that you have as “keywords” (read keyword density), and as a result if you place the link, name the link and also add a title to the link, then a spider or robot, will see that keyword three times as much.

Coded example:
< a h r e f = "www.seoprofessor.co.uk” t i t l e =”SEO Professor 1” > SEO Professor 2 < / a >

As you can see the address has two words within it (SEO + Professor), I have now titled the link with SEO Professor, so if you hover over it you will see exactly that as a title “SEO Professor 1”, then you also have how the hyperlink will appear in your webpage in this case “SEO Professor 2”.

Review: The Boondock Saints

Review: With "The Boondock Saints" I have to admit a was reasonably surprised. This is because I'm normally a person who completely opposes violence and movies that involve the whole, gangsters/mafia and guns.

However, with The Boondock Saints, there is the age old question thrown into a modern day scenario, should violence be solved with violence? This idea is explored as the two irish brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy McManus (Norman Reedus), are thrown into an unfamiliar situation that they are fortunate to leave as the victors, within the urban rundown surroundings of Boston.

This unfortunate event leads both Conner and Murphy into a world that they had not imagined, turning them not only into a position that some would refer to as god, making the decisions of life and death, but also as angels for condemning those who desire to break the law repeatedly, with the cruel harsh punishment of death.

The first Russian mob hit, is one that falls into their path by looting the Russian Mafia Soldiers that attack them, and receiving notification of where the next meeting will be. From then onwards, they rely on their good friend Rocco for information, a mob runner for a local gang.

The new found hope within Boston, is soon terrorizing the gangsters and striking fear into mobsters, whilst questioning the police force by performing their jobs but to the extreme.

Once of the most profound aspects of The Boondock Saints has to the be the depth of religion that the Mcmanus brothers follow, that portrays its way into The Boondock Saints very well through prayer and the few select scenes set within religious surroundings. The gangsters enemy, delivered from the hands of religion, through the desire to create peace with violence... is the best way to sum up The Boondock Saints.

Story line aside, the movie is set within urban surroundings and deals with situations that do not stretch your mind to far from what is reality, and this is possibly the reason why The Boondock Saints is so mind gripping.

My opinion is that The Boondock Saints will not only be very high on my favorite movies list for a long time, but that it will become/remain a cult classic for a long time to come. The Boondock Saints deserves all 5 stars.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie by Sycrid

Review: Appleseed Ex Machina

Review: Firstly, just so that everybody knows, this is the sequel to the movie Appleseed, which was a fantastic movie and has been rated 4 out of 5 stars, on Edd The Zombie, so go watch the Appleseed, before you sit down to watch Appleseed Ex Machina.

Secondly, I only became aware of Appleseed Ex Machina through a friend, so it looks like this was released but has not been a very big hit, however that is a mistake which no one should assume to be a true projection of the quality or storyline of Appleseed Ex Machina.

The movie picks up just after where the Appleseed finished, where you are injected into the city of Olympus and thrown right in behind the life of Deunan Knute, a female E-Swat member, currently dating a cyborg, who was her boyfriend before the war, and was also human before the war which separated them. However, now re-united they have become an unstoppable force within the E-Swat team, and fight the crime that is rising within a city nick named as utopia.

Upon one mission to rescue a group of hostages Briareos, the cyborg boyfriend suffers battle damage and Deunan is given a replacement partner for a short period of time. This partner is a bioroid, a human creation, based on the genetics of Briareos, and unfortunately for Deunan, looks just as briareos used to when he was human, causing lots of emotions and memories to come back up, resulting in lots of confusion.

Along with her new partner, they have to try and save the city from a single entity trying to take over the population through a form of mind control, projected into the minds of all via a device that looks not unlike a blue tooth headset for mobile phones.

The resulting situation throws E-Swat on high alert, with riots breaking out all over the city and people not actually knowing what they are doing, due to no control. They are turned into mindless zombie mobsters, through the simple headset.

The problem however does not lie within Olympus, but rather a fellow city (Poseidon) and has seen the return of HALCON, originally the research facility for healing minds and brain damage. Dr Kestner, which is briareos’ Dr, is in control of this facility and has come to the realisation that the one entity this device will not work on is Briareos, so he injects him with a virus that allows for the start of all the anarchy. Through hacking all of the satellites whilst they are interlinked, allowing Dr Kestner to link his mind control through to the population with unimaginable force, rather than using the portable wireless pigeon devices which he used to test the system.

The finale sees a cyborg, a human and a bioroid attack the facility within which Dr Kestner started his plan for destruction. Within a heated battle, the three have to fight off anything that is thrown their way, in order to have any hope of saving the world.

If you watch Appleseed Ex Machina, I believe you may be satisfied with the quality of work that has been developed, although the storyline is not quite as mind dazzling, and perhaps spread out through a period of time that is a little stretched, and could leave you a little bored.

Never the less, Appleseed Ex Machina, is an adaptation of Masamune Shirows work, which is always original and compelling. Appleseed Ex Machina, is definitely worth a watch if you have seen Appleseed, and is rated 3 out of 5 stars by Sycrid.

Originally posted on Edd The Zombie

Sycrid.

Review: Appleseed

Within the vast range of anime movies that I have watched, Appleseed caught my imagination perfectly; it opened up the idea of our future and the idea of how people will live along side their creations.

Appleseed deals with a lot of complex issues which are treated within what could be scene as an extended opening scene. The issues Appleseed deals with include how are creations can become as complex as we our selves are, what happens when we see both humans and alternative life as different rather than universal and equal. The subject of relationships is thrown into Appleseed as the main character Dunen discovers her boyfriend is still alive, but only due to being turned into a cyborg in order to survive.

The opening of Appleseed sees Dunen fighting off a collective of rogue soldiers, within a destroyed world, after the earth was brought close to the end, through a global war, set within 2131. Her team is wiped out very fast and she has to run, when a group of E-Swat fighters drop in around her, annihilate the rogue soldiers and neutralize Dunen.

E-Swat had been sent in to extract Dunen from the only world that she knows, and take her back to the city Olympus, referred to by from those within, as a utopia, where everyone lives equally.

After Dunen wakes up in Olympus, she has everything explained to her. Where she is, what she is doing and why she has been brought to the city. She is here to help, to stop what is originally seen as a code or virus which could eliminate one of the best creations that human kind has developed, the bioroid. This demise of the bioroid was developed as a fail safe for the human population to ensure that things do not lose control and turn nasty, but with some one set out to release the devastating issue upon the bioroid population, then there is only one way to stop things.

Dunen is here to make sure this does not happen, she has to find something that was left to her by her mother, when she was very young. It is the key to stopping the virus and takes her on an emotional trip through forgotten memories and feelings. Upon discovery of the key, things are thought to be resolved, for a very short period of time, until the true information about what the virus is. This results quite clearly in an all out battling struggle to reach the viruses storage facility and stop it from being released.

I’ve seen Appleseed a handful of times and it always captures my imagination, so I can only imagine that anyone who is interested in watching a good sci-fi or anime movie, would enjoy Appleseed.

Appleseed is rated 4 out of 5 stars by Sycrid.
Originally Posted on Edd The Zombie

Regards,
Sycrid

Search Engine Optimisation: Part 1

What is Search Engine Optimisation?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the ability to optimise your website so that it ranks/places higher within search results than it previously did. For example if your website is currently positioned 19th in Google for a good search, you may want to improve that to 1st, but how do you do it? This is where Search Engine Optimisation comes in, because through using Search Engine Optimisation techniques, you may highlight ideas and theories you where either not aware of, or have yet to perform to your website.

Will Search Engine Optimisation work on my website?
Search Engine Optimisation will work on any website, and it is likely that if you are reading this, and asking “will Search Engine Optimisation work on my website”, then the impact will be bigger rather than smaller for your developments.
Any website on the internet can be optimised to improve its rankings, however this does not mean very much may be done, it depends on who is above you in the search and what you have done previously to search engine optimise your website, so keep that in mind as you read on.

Review: Cursed

Set within the local Hollywood hillsides and suburban population, Cursed gains the viewers attention by being entirely aimed at the younger audience through the casts’ choices in characters and mildly entertaining scenes.

Cursed follows the lives of two young adults who recently suffered the loss of both parents and are trying to come to terms with having to rely upon each other, when their lives are interrupted through the intervention of becoming werewolf’s.

The werewolf section of Cursed starts with a large beast jumping on the bonet of the car that Ellie (Christina Ricci) and Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) are driving home, resulting in their car colliding with another. With the beast gone they try and assist with helping the other driver, when the beast returns, to attack and eat one of sorry victims of this horrif crash.

Within the accident the beast has managed to cut and slash Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) and Ellie (Christina Ricci), which starts a none reversible transformation. The transformation stops and becomes complete, only upon the next full moon, which renders some timeframe for Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) and Ellie (Christina Ricci) to stop this unfortunate series of events.

Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) starts out with the decision that turning to a werewolf, may not actually be quite so bad, the heightened senses and sexual allure make Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) the classic high school loser quite happy for a short while, until he realises the consequences that also come along with the benefits.

Watch the movie to discover how they stop this future from becoming a reality. I believe the only criticism to this movie, is that many will think it could have been a lot better if Wes Craven had his way completely, rather than half of the movie being remade to satisfy the production companies aim for a young generation of movie watchers. Never the less Cursed is a good movie and an entertaining watch.

Originally posted by Sycrid on www.eddthezombie.co.uk

Review: Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the dead. Remaking the classic, was it a good or bad idea?

Well as far as movies go this is what I'd certainly refer to as a Hollywood block buster, but also a Hollywood failure. Rule one is, if a movie is often known and referred to as a classic, then never remake it with the expectations of being more successful.

With the moaning and groaning done, the movie itself is not as bad as I've just made out. It's a modern day zombie genre film where a select group of people have been unlucky enough to survive the introduction of a zombie pandemic. Their hideout being an American mall, whilst they collaborate their efforts to develop a plan. What happens now? Where do we go? How do we survive?

I think if there are to be highlights within Dawn of the Dead, then they would have to be the small slots of humor. Two good examples of the entertainment within this movie, are the mysterious sniper who exists above a gun shop, and shoots the zombies related to their familiarities to the now almost certainly dead famous stars of yesterday, and the zombie child that is born.

Dawn of the Dead, is quite a slow moving movie, but it does build its way up to a dramatic ending where the group, what's left of them, aim at trying to break out of the mall and traveling to a boat, with the hopes that they may set sail and escape the horrible wrath of zombies. What actually happens, I will leave a mystery, so if you do wish to watch Dawn of the Dead, then you will perhaps be surprised.

Originally posted on www.eddthezombie.co.ukby Sycrid

Review: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Firstly I have to start off with a completely opinionated point of view. Sid is awesome!

With that aside, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, was a very family orientated theme, about not only members born into a family but how families are created through morale points of view and variation. I believe that this alone to a young child is a very good influence.

The movie itself goes along the lines of, Manny having a child, and trying to create a safe harbour for the young one to be brought into the world, with the misconception that he is the largest creature walking to date. Ironically by doing this, he leaves Sid slightly jealous and results in him finding 3 dinosaur eggs within an undiscovered world below the ice. Sid appropriately names the eggs “Shelly”, “Yolky” and “Eggbert”.

Well, you guessed it, the creators chose the most typical of dinosaurs for Sid to become a surrogate mother to, T-Rexs. This leaves for an entertaining perspective because even though the baby dinosaurs wish to eat all the other children, Sid being stubborn continues to protect them, and even makes one spit out the other child animals he has swallowed whole.

One of the most enjoyable and movie focussed characters within Ice Age this time around is "One Eyed Buck", with the voice over being performed by Simon Pegg, who has managed to portray his comedy very well into the movie as he tries to help the bunch rescue Sid from the angry T-rex mother. One Eyed Buck, is like the animated prehistoric Indiana Jones, that works very well within a story of love, potential loss and fear within unfamiliar surroundings.

I believe that overall this movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a thoroughly enjoyable family movie with some good laughs for all ages, and worth the cost of a cinema ticket. Go see it!

Originally posted on www.eddthezombie.co.uk by Sycrid

Zombie Name Generator

I have recently been hunting high and low to come up with ideas for generating more interest and visitors for Edd The Zombie.co.uk. One of the things that I have developed is a very simple script that randomly generates a name for a user as they refresh the screen.

At the moment the name only refreshes as the user refreshes the screen (press f5), and it will simply insert a name in the following sentence ... "Your zombie name is... (insert name) the zombie!"

Anyway if you want to have a look at the random Zombie Name Generator for Edd The Zombie.co.uk then just go to the following link "ZOMBIE NAME GENERATOR"

Laters People.
Sycrid.

Review: Shaun Of The Dead

Taking the zombie movie genre and slaughtering it with comedy, will only ever result in an enjoyable movie (unless zombies suddenly appear to be real, then it may be a little puzzling), however it will be hard to exceed the results of "Shaun of the Dead", where the genres are not only combined but have the addition, of two of potentially the most entertaining actors in the movie industry at the moment, "Simon Pegg" & "Nick Frost" covering the most important roles. Simon Pegg (Tim in Shaun of the Dead), being an electronics sales manager who has recently been dumped due to his life not being interesting enough, and Nick Frost (Ed in Shaun of the Dead) being a lazy bum, who shares a flat with Tim.

The story line for "Shaun of the Dead" pitches their friendship originating from University, but it's hard to believe that Ed ever managed to get into University with his childlike humor and relaxed attitude towards life. From that point onwards, Tim goes about his business in London, where throughout his daily routine he starts to notice un-nerving sights, such as a crazy woman chasing pigeons.

This then leads into Tim and Ed waking up the next morning and following their normal routine but within a nation filled with zombies, and the both of them being attacked by zombies. Tim comes up with the plan to save his ex-girlfriend, which he believes will help win her back.

To be completely honest, the plot for Shaun of the Dead is not very thick, and its rather how they try to fashion a defense against the slow moving, human craving zombies which make the movie a good watch. Good examples of this include throwing old records at two zombies found in their garden, Tim running around with a Cricket bat, and attacking a zombie with a washing line pole, pinning the zombie to the the pole itself.

What gives Shaun of the Dead the appeal of being watched, is simple, it's the comedy that its enthralled with zombies. From the one liner jokes through to the sheer impractical defense methods creatively thought of to stop the never ending zombie attacks. The greatest way I could ever think of summerising this movie is the quote that follows.

"Wouldn't he? Lizzy, how can you put your faith in a man you spectacularly binned for being unreliable? A man whose idea of a romantic nightspot and an impenetrable fortress are the same thing? It's... This is a pub! We are in a pub! What are we going to do? "

Just after breaching into the pub, for safety from the zombie horde.
"David: We're in a pub! What're we going to do now?
Ed: We could get a round in? "

Originally posted on www.eddthezombie.co.uk by Sycrid

28 Days Later Review

Review: From the first scene through to the final frame, 28 Days Later is a fantastic extract of what English film making can be, that is likely to be remembered for a long time to come.

A basic summarisation of the film 28 Days Later, is of a young bicycle courier named Jim who wakes up in hospital 28 days after a deadly virus has been released on the population of Great Britain, to realise the city which he inhabits has very few survivors. This hits the foundations of most modern zombie films, where a person wakes so that they may succumb to the fate that has befallen everyone that once surrounded them, whilst they slept. From this point Jim wonders the empty bleak barren streets of London in the hope of discovering what happened and how what has happened, has come to pass, with the hope of locating other survivors.

Soon Jim stumbles into a position that no human wishes to be within, when he enters into a desolate church that seems to have life, but upon further investigation, this life was not the kind that he could have ever imagined, which not only strikes fear into Jim but sends him into one of the most prime instinctive modes all humans have, survival.

From here on in, more characters come into play within 28 Days Later and the story of how this reality has become, is explained. After the brief and vague information that is discussed about who is who, how they have survived and what has happened. The group go hunting down a location that has been passed out on the radio as safe, but it’s at this point that you really get to feel how much of an influence the directors of photography and film, impose themselves into the story, through the breath taking and mind dazzling camera angles and scenery.

28 Days Later then ventures into a new direction as the remaining group of 3 have discovered the location that was promoted on the radio as safe. This location being a stately mansion which is being occupied by army personnel, who upon introduction seem reasonable, but further into the blending of the two groups, the intentions of the army personnel becoming apparently clear and once again the 3 main characters, have to escape and run.

All in all 28 Days Later follows a usual plot of a guy that wakes up, to a zombie infested nation and must discover a way to survive. Where on the route from the start of the film through to the end, the focal character is introduced to other survivors and together they believe that they can develop a plan so that they may survive.

As for the ending of 28 Days Later, well its best if you watch it, if you are interested in what you have read so far. Sycrids personal opinion of this movie is that 28 Days Later far exceeds the results of alternative zombie movies and will be hard to beat, although with the generic storyline, it could be achievable. Overall rating for 28 Days Later is 4 out of 5 stars

www.eddthezombie.co.uk for all the reviews

EddTheZombie

Well its been started, eddthezombie.co.uk that is. Whats been done so far...

1) Ive developed the layout, using CSS, HTML and PHP. Its scrappy and still needs some improving, however ive got around all the browser incompatibility issues, through using browser hacks.

2) I have developed the administration section of the website, to allow for reviewers to log in, and add/modify/delete reviews. Which at the moment restricts them to only do this with there own work.

3) I just bought the domain and website hosting from Streamline.net, meaning we have a temporary front page for eddthezombie and the website.

www.eddthezombie.co.uk

Sycrid.

Maries Money Blog, Scam?

Well I noticed that the GetCashFastWithGoogle, vanished from one of my favourite sites and ended up being replaced by this loverly brunette lady.

http://www.marysmoneyblog.com/
http://www.maryliveblog.com/

Have fun looking around at them, i'm sure Mary is just another Craig with the online money scamming things, just trying to get us to spend more money, in the hope that our desperate needs will be met by one their scams.

Its called Social Engineering, people! Wake up and smell the crap, if its too good to be true then when it comes to online activity and the desire we all have with lining our pockets with more money, then it's likely to be just that, crap.

Go out, get your self some books and teach your self some coding, maybe you will be able to come up with something original and then, just then you may actually be making the money that you are seeking.

Laters, I cba, and Mary or Marie... nice try.

BIOS Settings - Boot Order.

This information is for educational purposes only, and is to show how its done but not advised or to be taken as instructions for illegitimate activities, any actions that you do make, you take sole responsibility for and you must be aware of the consequences prior to performing your actions, so use google and do your research.

Ok, now that the boring section of warning you guys is over, here is how to adjust your boot order to allow for USB operating systems.

1) You need to locate the correct way to access your Bios settings, this is usually given within one of the load up screens on your computer, often located at the bottom of the page and usually requires you to hit an F key to access them. Locate the correct key and you will be given access to your motherboards options and settings. Be careful when you do this, alternative F keys can have alternative actions.

Also do not start playing around with the settings unless you know what you are doing. Things can and will break if you do this. If you wish to learn more about your motherboard, you should be able to access the information about what make and model your motherboard is within this section. Seek further information from the manufacturers website.

2) Once you have gained access to your BIOS Settings, if you look for the option usually referred to as "Boot Order". What this little section does is exactly as the name suggests, it searches a series of devices in the order you set, to look for your operating system. Normally this is your Sata or IDE hard drives, but what we want is a USB stick or USB drive, and they should be in the list, so if you follow the instructions that will be located some where within the screen your looking at, you should then be able to adjust your boot order, so that the motherboard looks for the USB options prior to your Hard drives.

3) Save the settings you have selected, and if you have an operating system on an external drive or USB stick, plug it in, restart your machine and you should see that Operating system load. If you do not, then it will simply pass over the USB options you have set and go for your Hard drives and your normal operating system will boot up, just like normal.

Its very simple and very effective.


Resources:
http://compreviews.about.com/cs/pchardwarebasics/a/aaBIOS_2.htm
& My own prior knowledge to this article being published.

Tecknet M958 TV Mobile PDA Phone Review

Well after having to experience Virgins epic failure for insurance cover with my mobile phone, I decided I would venture into the idea of buying a new handset. After a few hours of trawling across Amazon.co.uk I stumbled on the Tecknet M958 and decided to try it out, a mobile phone you can watch TV on for under £100? That just seemed unreal. From the reviews people had given, and the review by PDA Reviews, I thought it seemed like a real thing.

** 2 weeks later, it arrived and here's Sycrids review of the Tecknet M958 TV Mobile PDA Phone **

TeckNet M985 Review
- Box contents

First of all the TeckNet M958 is a UK development but be warned the manufacturing of the phone looks like it was done in China, Japan or Korea, because the box is riddled with a none Latin based language. The contents consisted of 2 Batteries, the phone, a USB cable, a USB plug and earphones.

USB? Well due to the extensive amount of things which can charge a USB connected device, the TeckNet M958 has the option of being charged via a USB port or plug the USB cable into the plug, and there you go. Ive tried the charge via my laptop and to be honest that was a few days ago and the battery is still saying its sufficiently charged. The battery length seems very good.

Handset:
Well the handset is a nice crisp and stylish design, I believe my friend replied with "ooohhh shiny", which implies it goes down nicely with people. The stylus is multi functional, it is both the pen for the interface but also it converts into an arial for the television and radio.

Multimedia:
Well the TeckNet M958's camera is only 2mp, which would be sufficient for that last minute snap, but I have yet to locate any form of auto focus, and as a result it is very difficult to use. The television aspect of the TeckNet M958 is great, it has a built in channel searcher and allows you to set the location for signal, so if you where to change country, you will be able to locate local channels. However, this is an analogue signal, which means more often than not, the signal is very weak and within the next two or three years the signal will be terminated as we all switch to digital. The video watching features are not so good either, for example the preview videos that it comes with appear pixelated when you watch them, so I can only gather it will be the same with your own media, but I have yet to test recording my own video for the TeckNet M958.

MP3's:
Most phones come with an MP3 player now and just like most, the TeckNet M958 does come with one. Which is just as good if not better than any which are on the market. It plays, and it even allows you to switch the sound settings from dance to rock, which as some of you may know, can make a huge difference.

The Operating System:
Ive looked through the TeckNet M958 and it seems like a good buy, which explains why I bought the phone. Never the less the operating system is very functional but you will discover that there are a few things missing, just small shortcuts, example... When viewing an image you cant set it as wallpaper, but rather you have to go into settings, display and then select wallpaper, select your storage location, locate the image and then select as wallpaper.

Conclusion:
The TeckNet M958 it self is a good phone, even though what I've highlighted above could be seen as negatives. Simply put, its a phone, what do you want it to do? It rings, with customisable ring tones and it sends and receives messages. With the addition of a television signal receiver, radio, mp3 player and a camera, plus its touch screen. All of that for £89 is a bloody bargain!

Be Warned: The only issue I have with the TeckNet M958 so far is that it does not automatically store the text messages you send. I still believe it was an excellent purchase though and recommend it as a first touch screen phone.

If you have any questions or wish for me to test something on the TeckNet M958 for you, then just post a comment and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. Photos coming soon and I will likely need to update this article as I discover more about the TeckNet M958.

Resources:
http://www.pdareviews.org.uk/pda-phones/tecknet-m958-tv-mobile-pda-phone/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet-Mobile-Screen-Camera-Bluetooth/dp/B000YJAKSO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=officeproduct&qid=1239503838&sr=8-2

EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com Scam or Real Deal?

I was browsing through Demonoid earlier and came across an advertisement by Adbrite and it stated "Google pays me £££ Per Hour." and it got me thinking, so I looked into this concept that was being promoted.

I went to the website http://www.EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com and checked out what it said, and to be honest all that was there was some flashy graphics. Tempting, fill out the form, pay the $1.99 and then you will be making $1000's per month and possibly weeks.

At this point http://www.EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com was looking good, very little investment and a very high profit margin for what was mentioned as very little work by Mr Craig Davidson at http://www.craiggetcash.com/. However, I'm a cautious guy and I didnt really want to take the business that was promoting its self and 1 guy as the deciding factor behind why I should register.

I ventured directly over to Google and started to do some quick research and damn I was happy I did that. Simply put the best advice you can get about a product is another persons opinion, who has experienced what the product/service is like. The first thing I looked at about www.EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com was a thread on Yahoo Answers (registered members giving real opinions).

I dont believe I could find a better quote than the following, to describe the company.
"So instead of getting something for free what you really get is a 7 day trial period after which you will have to pay $11.95 per month for the EarnCashFastWithGoogle.com and an extra $4.95 and $9.95 a month for the stuff you never even asked for." by homeoncliff

So should you trust http://www.EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com? I doubt it, it looks like another scam but hey, I cant state wether it is or not, because I did not register, all I can confirm is that through the research I did, I came to the conclusion that its wiser not to register with http://www.EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com.

Research Done:
http://www.craiggetcash.com/
http://www.EarnFastCashwithGoogle.com
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090128052015AA08Y49
http://devoracles.com/google-cash-explaining-why-is-it-a-scam

Hotkeys / Shortcuts for Mozilla Firefox

At work I seem to use a lot of "hotkeys" or shortcuts to get my job done and since a lot of the content management systems I use to wave through the unimaginable data are online, I opt for the Mozilla Firefox browser.

Anyway, I was caught the other day by a fellow employee/friend and they started asking what the heck am I doing since the screen kept jumping so fast and I was not using the mouse, so here’s a small list of "hotkeys" / Shortcuts that can increase your productivity using Mozilla Firefox, and some are also cross browser compatible.

Ctrl + A: Will highlight everything on the page.
Ctrl + B & Ctrl + I: Opens your bookmarks section, pressed again and it will make it disappear.

Ctrl + C: This will copy any text that is highlighted to the computers temporary memory slot.

Ctrl + D: Will present you with the option of book marking the current website/page that you are browsing.

Ctrl + F & Ctrl + G: Gives you the option of finding text on the current page your browsing.

Ctrl + H: Opens your browsing history section, pressed again and it will make it disappear.

Ctrl + J: Opens your download section.
Ctrl + L (or F6): highlights the URL section and any text within it.
Ctrl + N: Will open up a new Firefox window.
Ctrl + R (or F5): Refreshes your current tab.
Ctrl + S: Saves the current page to your computer.
Ctrl + T (shift): Opens a new tab, within the current window (holding shift as well, will open the last closed tab).

Ctrl + U: Shows the current web pages source code.
Ctrl + V: This will paste any text that is within the computers current memory.
Ctrl + W: This will close your current tab, and if pressed enough times, it will also close the current internet window you have open (Firefox).

Ctrl + (shift) Tab: This simply allows you to switch between tabs that you have open in a clockwise fashion (anti-clock wise if you hold down the shift button).

That’s all for now, I may need to update the list from time to time, as new versions of Mozilla Firefox appear, which is likely due to the amount of add-ons that keep getting built and seem to appear very useful. New Add-ons often mean new hotkeys / shortcuts.

You can download Mozilla Firefox from the following location and its free, so ditch Internet Explorer and become a Firefox fan. Mozilla Firefox Link

Google Search Commands

Ok, list of stuff for increasing your efficiency with google and solving your curiosity some times..

Type the following commands and you will get the results you want. Replace the word Test with what you need.

- "site:http://sycrid.blogspot.com/" = This will list every page of a website that is in google.
- "define: Hello" = This will define any word you enter.
- "link:http://sycrid.blogspot.com/" = This will show you all the pages that link to your website (other websites)
- "cache:http://sycrid.blogspot.com/" = This will show you the last time google checked your webpage.
- "info:http://sycrid.blogspot.com/" = This will show you the basic information that google holds about your website.
- "related:http://sycrid.blogspot.com/" = This will show you websites that are related to yours.


Anyway the site command is very useful if you want to see website pages that you need to be a member to access... if its a badly developed website. Its useful. lol. =)


I will update this post from time to time.

System Information

As part of my job I often have to ask people to send me information about there computer, this is used by the department that I work in to check that the users system is compatible with our software. Within this blog post, I aim to highlight multiple ways that a user should be able to view system information about a windows machine.

Command Prompt
To open Command Prompt, click on the Start button in the bottom left hand corner of your computer, click on all programs, then accessories and it should appear as a small black icon called Command Prompt. Once open you should see the option to enter text into the new window. What you should see is explained below with an example.

Explanation: Windows Drive\Documents and settings\Username>
Example: C:\Documents and Settings\Marcus>

Once this screen has loaded and you have something similar to what is above, type the command “systeminfo” and then press enter. Once this command has been processed, you will now see a lot of information about your computer. Things that you will see include,

O.S. Name, this is the type of operating system that you are running.
O.S. Manufacturer, this is the operating system manufacturer, should be Microsoft on a Windows Machine.

Registered owner, this is the registered owner of the computer.
Orignal Install date, this was when Windows was originally installed on your computer.
System Uptime, this is the amount of time that your computer has been on
System Manufacturer, this is the manufacturer of your computer.
System Model, this is the model number/name the manufacturer gives the computer.
System Locale, is the location that your computer had windows installed. This is only country specific.

Windows Directory, this is the location where Microsoft Windows is installed on your computer.

Input Locale, this is the region that your keyboard is set up for, only country specific.
Time Zone, this is the time zone that your computer is set to.
Total Physical Memory, is the amount of random access memory (RAM) that you have installed on your machine.
Available Physical Memory is the amount of random access memory (RAM) not currently being used.

System Properties
This is the more common option that people use to see there computers information and at first it will appear like you have very little information about your computer. However this option works like a link to more options. Once you have located the initial window that “system options” appears in. You will also be able to click on tabs at the top to view more details about your computer.

To access “system options” click on your Start button, normally located in the bottom left of your computer screen. From here you should be able to see an icon called “My Computer” on the menu that pops up. You need to right click on “My Computer” and then select “Properties”.

You should now see a new screen appear with the following information. A collection of tabs named (General, Computer Name, Hardware, Advanced, System Restore, Automatic Updates, Remote). Most of the tabs are self explanatory. Advanced gives you access to more advanced controls for your computer, System Restore allows you to restore your computer to a previous date. Remote allows you to share access to your computer with some one else via the internet, this is often useful if you have friends who can fix the problem you are having and it also allows you to access your computer from another location.

Dxdiag
This is the third option that I frequently use. To use this you have to run the command from the run option that is given in your start menu. Click on the Start button in the corner of your screen, once the menu loads up you should see an icon called “Run”. If you click on “Run” you will then have a small text box pop up and in there if you enter “dxdiag” and press ok you will have another window pop up.

Once this final screen called “Dxdiag” pops up, you will see a lot of information about your computer system. There are a few tabs that run across the top of this screen and they will highlight information about different aspects of your system, but the basic system information that you wish to look at, is presented on the first tab called “System”.

This is often the option that most computer gamers prefer to use because it appears to list the more relevant information, when checking if your computer will be compatible with a game or piece of software that you want to install.

Hope that helps you guys out there, if there are any questions, just post them here and I will try and get back to you as soon as possible.